Prague Panoramas: National Memory and Sacred Space in the Twentieth Century

Chapter 12. Old Symbols Oppose the New Regime

Toppling Columns, Building a Capital in Revolutionary Prague w 10 Chapter 12 Old Symbols Oppose the New Regime “I keep thinking that a nation which tears down the monuments it raises in other moods . . . deserves to be blurred.” Ludvík Vaculík, Czech dissident O f the postwar era in Europe, Pierre Nora has written, “No era has ever been as much a prisoner of its memory.”1 In Czechoslovakia, as in other parts of Eastern Europe, the term “prisoner” seems particularly apt. Citizens were indeed jailed, put under house arrest, or silenced for questioning the official memory of the state. Nonetheless, opponents of the regime found outlets for remembering alternate visions. During the Prague Spring reform movement and the subsequent Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, protesters used conventional tactics: they co-opted existing memorials, most often of Hus and Wenceslas, to reclaim historical symbols for themselves. They critiqued Communist attempts to create a new national identity through large-scale public art projects that they judged had no artistic merit. In both Prague and Warsaw, for example, the same quip was heard: “Where can I get the best view of the city?” “From on top of the new Palace of Culture.” “Why is that?” “Because from there, you can’t see the new Palace of Culture.” In a more serious mode, underground poetry from this era explored the phenomenon of memory under totalitarianism, mistrusting a state that obliterated unwelcome memories. This literature employed an unlikely symbol 10 w 11 for this exploration: the fallen Marian Column. During the 190s and 1950s, Czechoslovak Roman Catholics had again revived interest in the Marian Column . This monument—and its absence—came to represent both hope and despair for the faithful who suffered in the new regime. Unexpectedly, during the years of “normalization” following the Prague Spring, nonreligious intellectuals also began to incorporate the story of the Marian Column into their writing. Major writers, such as the future Nobel laureate Jaroslav Seifert and the dissident writer Ludvík Vaculík, delved the meaning of the absent column in an era publicly devoid of cultural creativity and freedom. Hus, Wenceslas, and Socialism with a Human Face Even as the Czechoslovak Communist Party controlled Prague’s public space, opponents found creative ways to give these monuments, architecture, and parades alternate meanings. The peak of creative activity occurred, not surprisingly , in 1968 during the Prague Spring. After years of economic and intellectual stagnation, reform-minded party leaders chose the Moscow-educated Slovak Communist Alexander Dubček as first secretary; then, when he took office on January 5, 1968, Dubček declared a new beginning for Czechoslovak Communism, with the slogan “Socialism with a Human Face.” Thus commenced months of activity, during which banned writers were rehabilitated and even published, religious groups saw increased freedom, and political reforms were instituted. The emphasis of the Prague Spring was freedom of expression. Censorship was partially lifted in March; this action led to increased criticism from Czechoslovakia’s hard-line neighbors, especially the Soviet Union, Poland, and East Germany. Nonetheless, the wave of reform swelled, and censorship was completely abolished in May. The spring witnessed a proliferation of newspapers , with readership increasing exponentially as they offered a diversity of topics, opinions, and analyses. The Czechoslovak Writers Union published the most influential paper, Literární listy, which severely criticized past actions of the party and put forth reform programs. And, while Prague residents reveled in their newfound freedom, Warsaw Pact troops slowly moved toward the eastern and western borders. In June, seventy writers and other public figures, issued the “000 words” manifestotobolsterthecountry’sreforms.ThewriterLudvíkVaculíkpennedthe document and gathered fellow intellectuals to defend their newly won freedom of expression. Further, the document censured the Czechoslovak Communist Party’s corruption and totalitarianism, and called upon reform Communists gathered around Dubček to build a true democracy. Its indirect implication Old Symbols Oppose the New Regime w 1 that Czechoslovakia must extricate itself from dependence on Moscow instigated the wrath of Leonid Brezhnev, who called Dubček to a series of meetings to rein in the reformers. After a summer of negotiations that resulted in little compromise, Brezhnev ordered the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which began on August 1, 1968. As Prague witnessed a week of street fighting between the Soviet and Warsaw Pact soldiers and the Czechoslovak citizens, activists used the Hus and Wenceslas statues as backdrops for public...